Nuclear spin physics in quantum dots: an optical investigation

Abstract

The mesoscopic spin system formed by the 10E4-10E6 nuclear spins in a semiconductor quantum dot offers a unique setting for the study of many-body spin physics in the condensed matter. The dynamics of this system and its coupling to electron spins is fundamentally different from its bulk counter-part as well as that of atoms due to increased fluctuations that result from reduced dimensions. In recent years, the interest in studying quantum dot nuclear spin systems and their coupling to confined electron spins has been fueled by its direct implication for possible applications of such systems in quantum information processing as well as by the fascinating nonlinear (quantum-)dynamics of the coupled electron-nuclear spin system. In this article, we review experimental work performed over the last decades in studying this mesoscopic,coupled electron-nuclear spin system and discuss how optical addressing of electron spins can be exploited to manipulate and read-out quantum dot nuclei. We discuss how such techniques have been applied in quantum dots to efficiently establish a non-zero mean nuclear spin polarization and, most recently, were used to reduce fluctuations of the average quantum dot nuclear spin orientation. Both results in turn have important implications for the preservation of electron spin coherence in quantum dots, which we discuss. We conclude by speculating how this recently gained understanding of the quantum dot nuclear spin system could in the future enable experimental observation of quantum-mechanical signatures or possible collective behavior of mesoscopic nuclear spin ensembles.

61 pages, 45 figures, updated reference list, corrected typographical errors

References in corpus (37)

• Single-shot read-out of an individual electron spin in a quantum dot
• Entangled Photon Pairs from Semiconductor Quantum Dots
• Resonance fluorescence from a coherently driven semiconductor quantum dot in a cavity
• Theory of electron spin decoherence by interacting nuclear spins in a quantum dot
• Spin decoherence of a heavy hole coupled to nuclear spins in a quantum dot
• Stimulated and spontaneous optical generation of electron spin coherence in charged GaAs quantum dots
• Observation of extremely slow hole spin relaxation in self-assembled quantum dots
• Optical control of spin coherence in singly charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots
• Electron Spin Dephasing due to Hyperfine Interactions with a Nuclear Spin Bath
• Hole - Nuclear Spin Interaction in Quantum Dots
• Dynamics of Quantum Dot Nuclear Spin Polarization Controlled by a Single Electron
• Large nuclear Overhauser fields detected in vertically-coupled double quantum dots
• Bistability of the Nuclear Polarisation created through optical pumping in InGaAs Quantum Dots
• Direct measurement of the hole-nuclear spin interaction in single quantum dots
• Nonlinear dynamics of quantum dot nuclear spins
• Demagnetization of Quantum Dot Nuclear Spins: Breakdown of the Nuclear Spin Temperature Approach
• Hyperfine interaction induced decoherence of electron spins in quantum dots
• Stabilizing effect of nuclear quadrupole interaction on the polarization of electron-nuclear spin system in a quantum dot
• Impact of heavy hole-light hole coupling on optical selection rules in GaAs quantum dots
• Efficient dynamical nuclear polarization in quantum dots: Temperature dependence
• Optical detection of single electron spin resonance in a quantum dot
• Electrical spin injection into p-doped quantum dots through a tunnel barrier
• Theory of excitons in cubic III-V semiconductor GaAs, InAs and GaN quantum dots: fine structure and spin relaxation
• Optically monitored nuclear spin dynamics in individual GaAs quantum dots grown by droplet epitaxy
• Nuclear Spins as Quantum Memory in Semiconductor Nanostructures
• Electron-nuclear dynamics in a quantum dot under non-unitary electron control
• Light-induced nuclear quadrupolar relaxation in semiconductors
• Hysteretic response of electron-nuclear spin system in single InAlAs quantum dots:Excitation power and polarization dependences
• Nonequilibrium nuclear-electron spin dynamics in semiconductor quantum dots
• A spintronic source of circularly polarized single photons
• Hyperfine interaction in InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots : dynamical nuclear polarization versus spin relaxation
• Fine structure and optical pumping of spins in individual semiconductor quantum dots
• Exactly solvable spin dynamics of an electron coupled to large number of nuclei and the electron-nuclear spin echo in a quantum dot
• The Nuclear Spin Nanomagnet
• Electron spin quantum beats in positively charged quantum dots: nuclear field effects
• Alignment of nuclear spins in single quantum dots using unpolarized light
• Asymmetric optical nuclear spin pumping in a single uncharged quantum dot

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Non-linear Optical Spectroscopy of Excited Exciton States for Efficient Valley Coherence Generation in WSe2 Monolayers
• Prospects for Spin-Based Quantum Computing
• Magneto-optics in transition metal diselenide monolayers
• Environment-assisted quantum control of a solid-state spin via coherent dark states
• Quadrupolar induced suppression of nuclear spin bath fluctuations in self-assembled quantum dots
• Exciton dynamics in WSe2 bilayers
• An improved semiclassical theory of radical pair recombination reactions
• From quantum-mechanical to classical dynamics in the central-spin model
• Extended linear regime of cavity-QED enhanced optical circular birefringence induced by a charged quantum dot
• Dynamics of a mesoscopic nuclear spin ensemble interacting with an optically driven electron spin
• Nuclear magnetic resonance inverse spectra of InGaAs quantum dots: Atomistic level structural information
• Sub-Kelvin optical thermometry of an electron reservoir coupled to a self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot
• Dynamics of entanglement of two electron spins interacting with nuclear spin baths in quantum dots
• Spin noise of localized electrons interacting with optically cooled nuclei
• Competing interactions in semiconductor quantum dots
• Charge tuning in [111] grown GaAs droplet quantum dots
• Optical orientation of electron spins and valence band spectroscopy in germanium
• Homogeneous Linewidth Narrowing of the Charged Exciton via Nuclear Spin Screening in an InAs/GaAs Quantum Dot Ensemble
• Full counting statistics of quantum dot resonance fluorescence
• Electron Spin Dephasing and Optical Pumping of Nuclear Spins in GaN